Coach Billy Donovan is bringing Anthony Grant back to the University of Florida.
UF announced Monday morning that Donovan had hired Grant to be Florida’s assistant coach following Grant’s ousting at Alabama after six seasons.
Grant had previously been an assistant under Donovan from 1996-2006 and was a critical part in Florida contending for the National Championship in 2000, where the Gators fell to top-seeded Michigan State 89-76.
Following Florida’s first National Championship in 2006, Grant was hired at Virginia Commonwealth University, where he would coach for three seasons.
After Billy Donovan announced in 2007 he had accepted the head coaching job at the Orlando Magic, UF athletics director Jeremy Foley met with Grant in Richmond, Virginia, to reportedly discuss the temporarily vacant head coaching job in Gainesville.
After Billy Donovan reversed course and decided to remain coach of Florida, Grant coached two more seasons at VCU before he was hired to turn around an Alabama basketball program that had seen limited success.
Grant was highly regarded in Tuscaloosa as a developer of student-athletes, and remained close with Donovan despite coaching at a Southeastern Conference rival. Following Alabama’s defeat at the hands of Donovan’s Gators in the SEC Tournament, Donovan said that it would be a “big mistake” if Alabama were to let go of Grant.
“I don't think people have any idea how great of a coach Anthony Grant is,” Donovan said on March 12. “He took over a very challenging and difficult situation. He had a couple of very talented players that really went through some disciplinary problems."
But ultimately it wasn’t Donovan’s call, and Grant was relieved of his duties as head coach on March 15.
Former Florida assistant Matt McCall accepted a job as head coach of Tennessee-Chattanooga on Sunday, and Donovan wasted little time replacing him with Grant.
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